Disclaimer: Being neither British nor Japanese, it should therefore come as no surprise that I own neither Harry Potter nor Naruto, nor anything from their respective franchises.
CW: Real-life term of bigotry, albeit probably used incorrectly
Madam Pomfrey was... less than pleased when six grown men piled into her Hospital Ward, asking her to deal with the serious injury to the hand of their eldest member and being distinctly evasive on how this came about. She was easily able to mend the cuts on Albus's ring and index fingers, but after a quick glance at the severed portion of his middle finger declared it beyond salvage and worked to close up the end of what remained. The Headmaster would be spending the night in her domain, require further care the next morning, and be sore for several days afterward, but at least he still had enough of the finger left that it wouldn't substantially impact his spellcasting or daily life.
It was when the school's Mediwitch mentioned that Albus's finger would be sore that Iruka realized that the pain he'd been afflicted with was beginning to fade. He brought this up to the others, who confirmed that they were starting to recover as well. Of course, mentioning pain in front of a Healer meant that the number of occupied beds swiftly went from one to six, and each of them was dosed with a potion to ease the lingering ache. Given the ordeal they'd all just been through, none of them protested the enforced rest all that much. Since they'd been confined to the Hospital Wing, they ended up sending their new acquisitions up to the Headmaster's office via Dobby. Even with their headaches fading, they were glad to have the eye-wateringly-colorful patchwork suit he was wearing that day out of sight.
Once the Dragon Lady of the Hogwarts Hospital Wing had retired to her office, Albus spoke up. "Alastor, would you be so kind as to raise a few privacy spells? I would do it myself, but I am under some rather strict instructions to rest my wand hand." The scarred Auror complied with a chuckle, casting a very long series of spells that probably not only ensured their privacy but rendered the infirmary one of the most well-defended rooms in the castle for the next little while.
"So," the Headmaster began, "we have now destroyed three of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes, even if we did not return entirely unscathed." He raised his hand briefly for emphasis. "I feel that I must apologize for my lapse in focus. In addition to whatever horrid withering curse it carried, the ring also bore a rather powerful compulsion spell encouraging whoever beheld it to immediately put it on. Due to the pain with which we were all afflicted, my concentration and therefore my will was not as strong as it could have been. There was also a certain... complicating factor that made me more susceptible in this particular circumstance."
It was hard not to notice the evasion in that last sentence. "I'd rather not pry," Iruka said, his tone slightly strained, "but can you at least tell us whether this complicating factor might complicate things again in the future?"
Albus shook his head. "It will not. There is something about that specific ring that was of significant interest to me, something which I am entirely certain is not shared by any other object which might be a Horcrux or included in one's defenses."
"That's a relief, at least," Sirius commented, "but then again it won't matter unless there are still more of those blasted things out there and we find them somehow. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that shack our last remaining lead for hiding spots?"
"It was," Remus confirmed, "but we'll keep searching. We won't know if we're done until Slughorn coughs up the real version of that memory, but until he does we should act on the assumption that there are more Horcruxes other than probably that snake. Better to waste a bit of time looking for something that's not there than assume we're done and get caught on the hop later on."
Moody gave an approving grunt. "And we can't get the bloody snake yet anyway. If it is a Horcrux, You-Know-Who'll probably go checking up on his others when we kill it. He finds out he's out of anchors, he won't be nearly as carefree about walking around throwing curses at people, and he might make more of the bloody things and hide 'em better than this batch. In other words, unless his first hint that he's mortal again is when he dies and he stays dead, we're all right royally buggered."
The Headmaster looked at his old friend reprovingly. "Really, Alastor, there's no need for such crudity." He shook his head slightly. "I agree that the snake should be saved for as close as possible to Lord Voldemort's ultimate demise. Remus's point on continuing to search is also well-made, although I admit that we may currently be at something of a loose end in that regard, having exhausted those leads which we have thus far been able to gather."
"Maybe it's time to ask Harry," Iruka suggested. "Given the similarities between his background and Riddle's, he may have suggestions we wouldn't have considered. He's been working hard on his mental defenses, to say nothing of the seal, so it should be safe in terms of information security."
Albus sagged. "I had hoped to spare Harry as much of this as possible, but it seems that we adults must once again turn to him for aid. We will continue as we have been for now, but if no further leads arise before the beginning of the summer holidays, we will bring Harry into our confidence. I will not, however, countenance bringing him with us on any expeditions unless we have need of a Parselmouth. Providing his insights into Tom's thought processes is one thing, but given today's close call I hope that we can all agree that actually bringing a teenager into such danger is simply unacceptable no matter how talented and capable he has proven himself to be." Five firm nods met this declaration. "Good. Now, with the matters of import resolved, I believe that we are all under orders to rest..."
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The six Horcrux hunters recovered quickly, though Albus did seek their help over the following weeks as he worked to adjust to the change to his wand hand. Much of this help consisted of acting as opponents in practice duels, though when there were less than two or three of them at once they tended to function less as duelists and more as practice dummies.
As the weeks passed, it became increasingly clear that Harry would have to be brought in on the Horcrux hunt, since none of the current participants had come up with any real new ideas. In the meantime, S.E.N. continued to train as hard as they could while still leaving their three Fifth-Years enough time and energy to study for O.W.L.s. Filius and Albus both made time to join them whenever possible, both to teach them more about magical combat and to keep their own skills at their sharpest.
It wasn't just those inside the castle that were training, however. At Iruka's suggestion and with the enthusiastic support of Alastor Moody and others, everyone in the Order had started making use of a practice room in Number Twelve to refresh their own skills in duelling and self-defense. Remus spent the most time acting as a teacher/trainer, with the group's Aurors sometimes pitching in during what few precious off-hours they had these days. That wasn't to say that it was a purely teacher/student arrangement, though: Almost every member of the Order had at least one thing to teach their comrades, often some little-known spell or a handy trick. Iruka made himself available as often as possible to teach what non-magical things he could in a short period, such as teamwork, physical fitness, and battlefield first-aid. Many of the Pureblood members were less than enthusiastic about the calisthenics he encouraged everyone to do, but even when they grumbled they still trained. With the ever-growing feeling of a hidden blade looming over them all, it helped morale to feel that they were doing something, anything to prepare.
Amelia Bones reported that the hidden recruitment drive for foreign Aurors and Hit-Wizards was making decent progress. It was slow going, but that was the price they paid for prioritizing secrecy. Hopefully it would be worthwhile when the Death Eaters suddenly found their opposition far better-manned and better-trained than they were expecting. The hidden-but-not-well-enough increase in new trainees also showed some promise, but none of these new recruits would be ready for the front lines in anything but the most desperate of circumstances for at least another year.
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It was the last Hogsmeade weekend of the year, and Iruka was strolling through the village as part of the day's staff contingent when he noticed he was being tailed. Really, it was hard not to - the figures wearing hooded cloaks that looked far too warm for the balmy late May afternoon were barely even being subtle by the standards of oblivious wizarding civilians. Expecting a confrontation sooner or later, Iruka steered his path away from the areas of the village frequented by students, the better to keep any children from getting caught up in whatever was coming.
The crowds thinned quickly as he made his way off the main thoroughfares and onto the side streets and back streets, but his shadows stayed with him. Eventually, after several minutes of walking without seeing or hearing any signs of bystanders, he picked an area with plenty of trees and buildings around that would get in his opponents' way far more than they would his. He stopped, adopting a seemingly-casual pose that any genin would recognize as a loose ready stance, and turned around, hands in his pockets fingering the weapons concealed within. "All right, I've known First-Years better at sneaking around than you are. What do you want?"
Five cloaked figures stepped into the open, moving into a rough circle around the chuunin with their wands drawn. Their apparent leader spoke, his voice marking him as the same one that'd organized his fellows in the graveyard the year before. "You're coming with us. Our Lord has granted you the honor of an audience with him." Even with the figure's face hidden, the sneer was almost palpable. "Don't try anything stupid, either. We've seen your little tricks already; they won't work a second time."
Given that he wasn't exactly eager to meet with Voldemort on said Dark Lord's terms, Iruka decided to test that claim. He ducked into a low spin, his hands emerging with small stacks of shuriken that he whipped out towards his would-be kidnappers. While most of them were distracted shielding against the flying blades, he used a basic Bunshin no Jutsu to seemingly multiply into over a dozen figures. As curses started to fly his way, he and his illusory decoys scattered in every direction, some dashing low to the ground while others leapt high over the Death Eaters' heads and onto roofs or into trees. He'd be able to fight and/or escape more effectively if he wasn't surrounded by his enemies.
Unfortunately his lack of opportunity to focus on them meant that his clones weren't actively dodging, which meant that within seconds he'd been picked out as the real target. Worse, as he dashed around the corner of a nearby house he was forced to hastily dodge a length of whirling chain covered in cruelly-barbed hooks shot by a new assailant. It turned out the Death Eaters had learned something about how he moved and fought, and even worse apparently the five that originally confronted him had more friends forming a wider perimeter. With a large but unknown number of attackers spread over the area, he didn't dare take to the rooftops as he normally would, lest he expose himself to fire from many directions at once. His best bet would be to make use of the cover available to try and give them the slip. Not for the first time, Iruka lamented his lack of aptitude for earth-element ninjutsu; being able to go underground would have opened up a lot of really useful options in this fight.
He couldn't tell how many people were chasing him, only that they constantly kept the pressure on, cutting him off before he could completely lose them and not giving him time to attempt anything complex. Smoke bombs were dispersed almost instantly by wind charms, and the bright sun made flash bombs near-useless. Based on the frequent cracks of Apparition he was hearing from the area around him, they were negating his straight-line speed advantage by simply skipping the intervening distance, presumably coordinating their movements somehow. His own attempt to Disapparate failed to do more than leave him with a pounding headache, suggesting come kind of interdiction that the Death Eaters could bypass. He also acknowledged to himself that, given that they were likely all Hogwarts graduates, they probably knew the layout of Hogsmeade better than he did. All in all, he was outnumbered by enemies with superior knowledge of the terrain and comparable mobility. Something needed to change if Iruka wanted to get out of this before innocent bystanders got dragged in, but what strategy to take? Well, he thought, what would Naruto do?
Normally, if someone was running full-tilt, they couldn't just suddenly stop; they'd just end up skidding or tumbling. Normally, that someone wasn't a shinobi that could use chakra to stick to surfaces. First-time learners thought that climbing up trees and walls was the most important use of that technique, but experienced ninja found that its greatest value was in allowing them to stop or change direction instantly no matter what surface they were on. The wizard chasing along behind Iruka discovered this the hard way, as the chuunin abruptly reversed direction, slinging a spread of kunai out in front of him as he charged directly at the Death Eater.
A hasty shield deflected the kunai that were aimed directly on-target, allowing the bracketing throws to pass by harmlessly, but it was positioned wrong to block the follow-up mule kick that Iruka threw at his back after dashing past under his outstretched wand arm. The Death Eater let out a cry of alarm and pain before being silenced as he struck the stone wall of a nearby house with a muffled thump. He fell, either unconscious or dead; Iruka didn't have time to confirm or follow through as several of the downed wizard's comrades Apparated nearby and started hurling curses, forcing him to dodge and evade once again.
More shuriken barely bought Iruka a half-second's respite, but combined with his unexpected turnaround that brief break was enough to lose his pursuers with a combination of a smoke bomb, a clone, and a shunshin up to a nearby roof where he quickly drew his wand and Disillusioned himself and hid behind a chimney to catch his breath and plan his next moves.
While he was planning, however, the Death Eaters were still searching. He could hear what sounded like an increasingly-heated argument down below, and saw at least half a dozen cloaked wizards hunting around, including what looked like at least one Disillusioned broom-rider overhead. Many of those gathering must have been panting hard, judging by the way their shoulders were heaving.
Just as he was considering whether he'd be able to slip away without being spotted by the enemy flyer, two Death Eaters strode hurriedly into view dragging a pair of struggling smaller figures with them by the elbow. Iruka recognized the teens as a pair of Fourth-Years, a Slytherin boy and Hufflepuff girl that he'd seen around the castle but never interacted with. Both were obviously trying to shout something, but must have been Silenced. They reached the center of the clear area and held their wands to the children's throats. "Found these two looking for a little quiet time," the one holding the girl said in an accented voice, prompting a round of amused chuckles. "Lucky for us, not so much for you two though, eh?"
"Umino!" the leader shouted, holding the boy in place, "I know you're still here somewhere! Come out now, or these little blood-traitors will pay the price!"
He nodded to his partner, who turned down towards the girl he was holding and incanted, "Crucio!" The girl fell, silently screaming in agony as she writhed on the ground for a second before the curse was lifted. Her apparent boyfriend was straining in his captor's grip, desperately trying to reach her, as the Death Eaters laughed. Some of that laughter spoke of sadistic enjoyment, but at least some sounded forced, strained, and more than a little uncomfortable.
"Well?" the leader called out, "Are you coming, or are you enjoying this as much as we are?"
Iruka knew he was caught. With two hostages, one already at least partly-incapacitated, he couldn't escape, and fighting would just get the children killed. As alert as the gathered Death Eaters were, nothing he could think of would let him get the two students to safety. While he could certainly kill at least a few of the terrorists with Disillusioned kunai, there were too many of them spread too widely to target them all in one volley, and anyone not killed instantly would likely target the hostages. Adding explosive tags would incapacitate more enemies, but explosions don't distinguish friend from foe and most of the Death Eaters were clustered around the two teens.
A basic ventriloquism jutsu allowed Iruka to throw his voice to the branches of a tree twenty meters away. "And I'm supposed to believe that you'll actually let the children go? You and your master don't exactly have a good track record on that front."
"Believe what you want, wog, your options won't change." Unfortunately, the vile man was right.
Hoping to hide at least some of what he could do, he returned to ground level with another shunshin, removed the Disillusionment charm, and stepped out. "How could I refuse such a civilized request," he said coldly, announcing his presence with a flare of sakki that caused two of the nearer Death Eaters to flinch back a step.
"Well, well, well," crowed the leader, "it seems you're at least smart enough to know when you're beaten. Not smart enough to show proper respect to your betters, but what can one expect from a foreign savage? Take him."
A Full-Body-Bind locked Iruka's limbs up, and as he pitched helplessly forward conjured ropes bound him tightly before he'd even hit the ground. Thankfully, his fall had been slow enough that he'd had time to channel some chakra to his face, so his nose was only bloodied by the impact instead of broken. One of the Death Eaters rolled him onto his side with a rough boot in his ribs, crouching down to peer at Iruka as several of his fellows gathered around as well. Strangely, even this close and from such a low angle, the chuunin couldn't see any of their faces - presumably they'd used some sort of charm to deepen the shadows in their hoods.
"Don't look like much, does 'e?" one of them commented. "Still a right bugger to catch, though." He punctuated this with another kick to Iruka's ribs.
"Gently, now," the leader mock-chided, "he has to be intact enough to answer our Lord's questions, after all. Now, Stun and Obliviate the brats, and let's get going before somebody notices."
"Can't we just..." the accented sadist from earlier said suggestively, as a sweep of his wand sent an arc of sickly purple flames into the ground just beside the head of the terrified girl.
"No, Dolohov," the leader said warningly. "Remember our orders. As little trace as possible, and no permanent damage to any Purebloods if we can avoid it. Now, as for you..." He turned back to Iruka and brought his wand to bear. The bound chuunin saw a flash of red light, then darkness.
A/N: A relatively short chapter, I know, but how could I resist a cliffhanger like that?
Being American, I'm only vaguely aware of the slang of British bigots, so if I've used a term that wouldn't fit Iruka (from a racist Brit's vocabulary) I choose to hand-wave it as the Death Eater in question not even bothering to distinguish between different foreign ethnic groups.
I'm sure at least one person reading has come up with some way for Iruka to have potentially gotten himself and both of the hostages to safety, or to have escaped before it turned into a hostage situation. Thing is, when I'm writing a fight scene, I try to write as much of it as possible in one go, without spending a lot of time thinking about what to do next, since the characters themselves don't have that luxury.
The one thing about the hostage situation that left me disappointed in myself was that I couldn't think of anything Iruka could do to make sure the kids got away safely when he turned himself in. That's the one aspect that, if I come up with something between writing that scene and posting this chapter, I'll happily edit. I did think to add the strained laughter from some of the DEs to indicate that they're not 100% on board with hurting Pureblood children. This doesn't mean that any of them are decent people by any means, just that not all of the Death Eaters are unmitigated monsters. Even most of the real world's greatest villains and monsters have had circumstances in which they did show some genuine humanity, which to me only makes them more horrifying.
EDIT: One reviewer found it unbelievable that the Death Eaters would spare the kids, but beyond what I stated above there's the important factor that they're under orders from Voldemort. We see in the canonical Battle of Hogwarts that he's willing to spare even people that fought against him once they're no longer actively fighting, so ordering this group to not kill any Purebloods unneccessarily is not unprecedented. Also, don't forget that he's still trying to fly under the radar, and dead or maimed Pureblood children wouldn't exactly help with that goal, thus why the two get Obliviated so they can't report being attacked by a mob of Death Eaters.
Fic Recommendation: "All You Need to Know About Wizardkind" by Polydicta - Harry and Hermione come to a critical insight about a fundamental flaw in wizarding culture.
Posted 5 January 2020
Updated 6 January 2020: Making Iruka's predicament clearer, explaining further in A/N